Lost In Translation

Chilita

Chilita chili dogs and quesedas and Tecate beer in Nakameguro across from Hatos Bar from ¥400.

Noriko Smiling

I was inspired to read Adam Mars-Jones' book on Yasujiro Ozu's 1949 film Late Spring, Noriko Smiling (2010) after reading about it in Film Comment. I own the film so I watched it again before starting the book and I may have to go back and watch it again to confirm some of Mars' observations of the film that I couldn't corroborate. Most of the book is related to his observations and theories of the film, but clearly he has also read everything he could find in English about it and has a wealth of interesting things to say about this film, Ozu, Japan in 1949, censorship during the occupation, and even Akira Kurosawa. It turns out Kurosawa released his film noir master work (that I have written about in journal articles twice) Stray Dog in 1949 as well. Kurosawa also faced troubles with the censors and acted much the same as Ozu-following some suggestions and ignoring others. At any rate, Mars is not afraid of challenging celebrated critics: "When (Donald) Richie turns Ozu into a religious artist, to be approached only by the initiated, I think he's plain wrong. Sometimes works of art need to be defended against their advocates, and great films rescued from their reputations. Masterpieces are not fragile but robust. They can stand up to more than a reverent dusting." He also has problems with Paul Schrader's focus on the Transcendent and says :" Sometimes Schrader seems like a true believer who will use thumbscrews on you if you  don't accept the principle of non-attachment."  He discusses a book by Lars-Martin Sorenson called Censorship of Japanese Films During the Occupation of Japan (2009) and reveals some interesting tidbits about this topic. First of all, the offices for the two groups involved in censorship were housed in the Hattori Building in Ginza that is used as the Tokyo establishing shot twice in the film-a sort of inside joke. He also identifies some changes that needed to be made and others that were ignored. Another interesting observation Mars made about the film suggests that two shots of English signage that I missed or didn't pay attention to were inadvertently showing that there were occupational forces there: a Coke-a-Cola sign and signage on weight limits on a bridge. His big theory, which has some merit, is that Noriko experience some sort of sexual trauma when she was doing forced labor during the war. And that would explain her aversion to marriage and her attitude about her father's friend Mr. Oonodera being dirty for having remarried after his wife died. I find Noriko's behavior difficult to understand and this makes as much sense as any other explanation to me.

Taiwan 2003 Added To Archives

After talking to a friend who just returned from a trip to Taiwan I decided to upload pictures from a trip I took to Taiwan in 2003 before I started my blog. I also realized that you could back date the photos, so I added them to the archives as the first entry on the blog, May 2003.

The Woman Chaser

The Woman Chaser (1960) by Charles Willeford is a curiously titled novel since most of the woman chasing by the protagonist Richard Hudson is away from him. Perhaps, it was a marketing ploy, but this novel is more about artistic integrity and the used car industry than it is about womanizing, although there is some of that. It is a kind of a crime noir for sure with its bleak worldview about “straight society.” Hudson is a successful used car salesman who feels the need for more in life, but it is not a family that he longs for, rather he feels that the need to create in order to truly be alive. So he decides to make a low-budget film with his stepfather, a former studio director. However, Hudson is unwilling to compromise, either to pad the film to make it longer for theatrical release, nor is he willing to trim it for airing on TV (cable would have solved this problem today). His partners decide to air in on TV and Hudson spirals into anger and depression, wrecking havoc on anyone who crosses his path. Yet, another entertaining early novel from Willeford.

Blacows Interior

The decor at Blacows one of my favorite burger joints in Tokyo.

This Is How You Lose Her

Junot Diaz continues to document the Dominican American experience in his latest book of short stories, This Is How You Lose Her (2012). It focuses mostly of the life and times of the womanizing Yunior and his brother Rafa. I didn't find these stories as original as Diaz's first collection, Drown. And I was less inclined to sympathize with the protagonist as I was in his impressive debut novel, The Life and Times of Oscar Wao. I think this affected my enjoyment of the stories. Neither Yunior nor Rafa are very sympathetic, and it makes me wonder how much of them are in Diaz, but I suspect he is more life the befuddled Oscar Wao. However, I do think that Diaz is creating a world that is very different from the one I grew up in and inhabit and that is interesting and valuable and I expect I'll read whatever comes next as well.

The Inheritance

The final film in Criterion's box set series, Eclipse 38: Masaki Kobayashi Against The System, is The Inheritance (1962). It is yet another tale of corruption and human frailty. In this film a wealthy businessman (So Yamamura) decides to split his inheritance among his three illegitimate children and his most recent and much younger wife. Through into the mix his secretary (Keiko Kishi) that becomes his mistress in his ill-health and unscrupulous employees (Tatsuya Nakadai and Minoru Chiaki) and everyone is wearing their greed on sleeves. This seems like an interesting choice sandwiched in between his two greatest triumphs-The Human Condition (a film about the Japanese war experience in China) and Harikiri (Kobayashi's anti-authoritarian masterpiece). This marks the first of several collaborations with master composer Toru Takemitsu and so very different from the score to Harikiri, in that it is a modern jazzy score. All in all, this set is a fascinating look at Jpaan in the 50s and 60s from a man who was not afraid to address issues that many would rather sweep under the mat. Kobayashi might be one of the era's most under rated directors and has become one of my favorite Japanese directors.

BFI: Cache

Catherine Wheatly has written a good analysis, Cache (2012) of Michael Haneke's 2005 film Cache for the British Film Institute. In introduction, "Beginnings and Endings," Wheatley talks about the distinctive ending and start of the film. From there she discusses some of the ways the film has been addressed: 1) the film as thriller "Whodunnit?" 2) bourgeois guilt "Home and the Family" 3) political accountability "Politics and Memory" 4) reality, the media and its audiences "Screens and Spectators."  The Conclusion suggests that this film invites a number of readings and refuses to settle on a definitive reading of the film. It has inspired me to get a copy of the film and give it several more viewings.

Final Episode

Fina Episode (1974) is the last installment of Kinji Fukasaku's The Yakuza Papers: Battles Without Honor & Humanity. I like the fact that Jo Shishido joins yakuza stalwarts like Bunta Sugawara and Akira Kobayashi in the series. It didn't end the way I thought it would, I was expecting Hirano to get his justice, but he ends up walking away from the life  of a gangster after more than 30 years as a yakuza. It was an epic story with lots of realistic violence captured by hand held cameras setting a new standard for movie violence.

Dark Star Safari

Since I was in the middle of a school semester I wanted to travel vicariously and I had heard that Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cario to Cape Town (2004) was inspiration for one of Paul Theorux's most recent novels, The Lower River (which I plan to read soon). As usual this book was just what I was looking for. I always enjoy Theroux's distinctive travel persona which involves traveling alone overland with wry observations and interesting tidbits from the background reading he does for these journeys (whether is is before/during/or after is of no importance, but I suspect much of it takes place as he travels). Early in the book he states: "The best travel is a leap in the dark. If the destination were familiar and friendly, what would be the point of of going there?" I suspected that he would have a rough time of it, given his observations of India in Ghost Train to the Eastern Star. But I forgot to factor in that it was in Africa that he made himself-did his first writing, met V.S. Naipal, and got married. That experience inspired one of his best books, My Secret History.  Visiting Malawi was a homecoming, not unlike returning to Singapore where he published a novel and taught at an university that he revisits in Ghost Train. In a sense this is special trip for Theroux, he was coming back after 30 years. However, even if he imagined he would be put off like he was about India, I doubt it would stop him. He writes:

To me travel was not about rest and relaxation. It was action, exertion,motion, and the built-in delays were longueurs necessitated by the inevitable problem-solving of forward movement: waiting for buses and trains, enduring breakdowns that tried to make the best of.

I always enjoy his observations of the countries, cities, people, trains, and societies he makes as he travels. There will always be random encounters with other travelers and people whose country he is visiting and he prods them for their observations of the country as well as their specific stories. He often seeks out people who can give him specific information about a specific problem. For example, in this book he befriends a Zimbabwean farmer whose land is being occupied. He goes further and goes to talk to a squatter on the man's farm to get both sides of the issue-although it is clear which side he is on. He also has very specific things to say about all the foreign aid agencies in Africa, who have the best cars and are the least likely to offer a ride to a traveler. He has this to say:

That was my Malawi epiphany. Only Africans were capable of making a difference in Africa. everyone else, doctors and volunteers and bankers, however idealistic, were simply agents of subversion.

He also has much scorn for the pious missionaries he encounters on his travels. I have to admit to being entertained when he goes mano mano with a young female missionary when discussing the bible since she is homophobic and he points out passage after passage of ridiculous rules and regulations from the bible, but knows he can't win. Somehow he felt the need to have a go at her-something I can not be bothered to do-you will never win an argument with a true believer-which he acknowledges himself. He says:

The missionaries aim was the creation of African nags and twaddles who were morbid and sanctimonious, and whose victory was the destruction of their homegrown pieties and ancient artifacts of veneration.

Of course, I always enjoy the literary interludes as well. On this trip he visits two Nobel Literature Prize winners: Naghib Mahfouz in Cairo and Nadine Gordimer in South Africa. Two writers I am quite familiar with since I previously read several of their books after they won the prizes in the 90s. On one occasion, he mentions that a missionary reminds him of a Paul Bowles story had me looking it up since I know that I read The Collected Stories of Paul Bowles-"Pastor Dow at Tacate." He mentions that he reread Conrad's Heart of Darkness several times on the trip, as well as books by the English explorer Richard Burton, books related to Arthur Rimbaud's exile in Ethiopia, a history book about the massacre in Rwanda (We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda is a 1998 non-fiction book about the genocide that I also read), as well as others. At one point Theroux offers his list of National Writers: (UK) V.S. Pritchett, (AR) Borges, (IN) R.K. Narayan, (BR) Jorge Amando, (JP) Shusako Endo,  (EG) Mafhouz, (TR) Yasar Kemal, and (ZA) Gordimer. I don't contest Borges, Amando, Mafhouz, or Gordimer. I find it curious that he names Prichett and Endo, I can think of more interesting authors in England and Japan. The other countries that I don't refer to- I don't know enough about their literary history to make an intelligent comment.

In sum, another great romp in a place that I'm not sure I want to visit. However, that being said, I do have some friends in South Africa and that seems like an interesting destination. I am also intersted in North Africa: Morocco, Tunisia, etc... We'll see if and when these trips happen.